Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-10-14
TIE AMERICAN BOARD.

DEA. c. '. THoMPsoN's INTERESTING ACCOUNT
OF WHAT WAS DONE At SPRINGFIELD LAST
WEEK.
The last Sunday evening meeting at the
Congregational church was devoted princi-
pally TO AN account given by Dea &. i.
Thompson Of the proceedings at the meet
ing of the American Board in Springfield.
Mr.. Thompson was present throughout the
meeting and, being as he is one of the 220
corporate members, his account of what
was done possessed a special interest as be-
ing in n certain sense an inside view Of
what took place. Mr.. Thompson approved
in the main Of what was done and explain
ed and defended the action Of the board on
the points in contest, though he believed il
would have been wiser TO have chosen some
members Of the minority or progressive
element TO FIJI the vacancies in the list Of
members but such action the ma jOrity de
clined 10 take. Following are the main
points which Mr.. Thompson presented
SUMMARY OF MR. THoMPsoN's REMARKS
The 18th annual meeting Of the Ameri.
can Board Of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions was held at Springfield Mass,
Oct. 4th to eth These yearly meetings
have always been Of intense interest and
have drawn together from all parts of the
CAlA''A h1AtAAt7 a lhl e lhAibtl VI tlt liDul-
inent members Of the Congregational
churches, both ministers and aymen. No
society Of the kind either in this country
or England has finer record than this. Ii
stands among the oldest of our benevolent
organizations and has not stain upon its
long history. The annual meeting is usu-
ally taken up by an opening sermon and
reports Of the secretaries, who give in de
tail the work Of the year, together with
specially prepared papers bearing upon the
missionary work reports from the various
missionary stations are made and commit
tees are appointed 10 speak upon them.
These reports and addresses being from
the ablest men in the denomination are al
ways of great power and intensely inter
esting, and ordinarily, with the usual bust
ness Of electing officers, etc, take up the
time.
The sermon the present year was by Rev.
DIR. Noble Of Chicago, from the text, THY
Kingdom come, Gisi a very able and in
structive discourse entirely free from con
troversial ideas Quite a portion Of the
time at tins meeting, as well as at the an
nual meeting last year at Des Moines, was
taken up in debating and discussing some
controverted theological points This was
new thing in the history of the board,
and 10 many very distasteful, trenching rs
1t did 50 much upon time generally devoted
to the legitimate work Of the society, but it
was unavoidable. The action taken by the
board at Des Moiues had been discussed at
great length in the newspapers during the
year, and there was a divided opinion as
to THAT course the prudential or executive
committee, who are appointed yearly,
should pursue in relation II accepting can
didates for the work abroad, especially such
as favored the 50 called new departure
views. large majority favored adhe-
renee 70 the course pursued for over -
years, which seemed 10 them strictly in
accordance with the views generality held
by the churches which formed the constit-
uency of the board.
The report of the home secretary, DR..
Alden, on the home department, and Of
Secretary Judson Smith for the prudential
committee, brought out fully the position Of
the committee, giving in detail and at great
length their action in the case of each per
son who was not accepted And here it
should be said that only three out Of about
100 were rejected by the committee during
the past year
Two reports ending with resolutions were
brought in by the committee TO whom the
report of Secretary Alden was referred
The minority report made by Prof Fisher
was acted upon first and was defeated af
ter long discussion, not because the resolu-
lions 10y themselves were obnoxious or con
trary TO sound doctrine. but because of the
preamble to them and the fact that had the
board accepted them they would have be, II
claimed as favoring the new departure
theory, and large portion of the corpor-
ate members were firm in their opinion that
this must not be done. That some conces-
sions might have been made by which res
olutions strong enough and embodving
some Of the points from both reports. was
the hope Of many who finally voted with
the majority, and could another dav have
been had for thoughtful consideration.
might have been secured
That the Congregational churches Of the
United states will continue to stand By and
sustain the American Board in its great
work is without a doubt. No other agency
50 well equipped in every way To act as the
servant Of the churches can be reasonably
expected. Those now differing upon the
contested points will come together and the
glorious work of sending the gospel Of the
Son of God TO those who have it not will
continue t. 90 on with increasing power i
The report of Secretary Smith was upon
the point of referring difficult cases to a
council, which Is a Congregational usage
as denied by no one, and the thing to do in
many cases but for reasons stated in this
exhaustive report that were really unan-
swerable, it was recommended that in con
nection with the work of the prudential
committee this coure was inexpedient and
was So decided hy a very large majority